And thats it...

I'm really pleased with how my magazine came out.
So my coursework is all done and this is me saying So Long, Farewell.

Fin.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

The main thing I have learnt along the way is to keep your pages looking professional. This often means stop editing, in the prelim task I had lots going on and the pages were too busy. I left more white space in my final pages and tried to use less dramatic editing. I thought about everything lots more second time round, especially audience. For example when I was taking my images I thought about how they would work on the page and what was in the background that would be distracting. I tried to use the blog more aswell, as it is useful for getting quick feedback from peers in the comments. After writing my treatment I also thought alot more about my audience. So what kind of images they would like, what article info they would want and which colours to use. I also wanted to make the pages seem more connected as my prelim pages didn't look like one magazine.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have used several forms of technology whilst making my magazine...

• Photoshop
• Digital Camera
• iMovie
• Blogger
• Graphics Tablet

I used blogger for the last task and so my use of that has not really developed. I have also used photoshop and my camera before quite a lot and so knew how to use them well. I had never made anything like my pages before though and so it was different taking pictures for a magazine and designing the magazine. When taking my pictures I thought more about how they would work when they were actually on a page and how titles would fit around the image.

With photoshop I thought more about making it look professional and making the pages look linked and part of a whole magazine. I used a graphics tablet when I was photoshopping images. This was something I had never done before and it meant I could be really accurate, it also allowed me to do the Haydon Jones signature on my cover, something that lots of people commented on.

Audience

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My magazine is aimed at both genders, aged about 17-20. They are students becoming more independent. They will have a distinct and eclectic taste in music, particularly alternative music. They are also educated, artistic and adventurous.

How did you attract/address your audience?

The main way I attracted my audience is through the design of my cover. The design of the magazine would be very important to the target audience. I kept it quite clean and professional looking, very much like Q magazine. I used secondary tones of blue, this makes it look more expensive and less tacky, it also ties in with cool alternative music. In my audience feedback lots of people commented on how they liked the clean design of the pages. I used a retro font for my masthead, as this would be the sort of thing readers would like.

 I used green for the main cover line as it matched the image and would stand out more and grab attention. I used conventional coverlines such as competitions, top tens and exclusives.

 These interest viewers more than just artist titles. All the people in my photographs are alternative style people of the same age as my readership, so they will connect with similar people. As the magazine is aimed at both genders I tried to keep a mix of both in my magazine.

 I used a semi-formal register when writing the magazine. This is because the readers are intelligent and so want well written articles, though not boring or over complex. I avoided using "teenage" speech as often in text it does not translate well and ends up sounding cliche. One of the things lots of people commented on is that they liked how professional the pages looked, backing up that teenagers don't want dumbed down magazines or cheap tacky magazines.

Audience Feedback

This is some of the audience feedback I got on my final pages.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine is aimed at old teenagers/young adults who are artistic and interested in alternative music. For this reason I used young alternative artists in my images. Because the readers are interested in design my magazine is very design led and the photographs are quite artistic. This also means there are a lot of good quality images. Although there are a lot of images there is still a lot of text, for example in the double page spread, as the readers would be very interested in everything they read. Often teenage magazines don't use much text and talk in 'teenage' speech, I didn't do this as I think for my readers it is a false stereotype. Stereo readers would want intelligent articles, though not too factual and boring, I tried to do this. As the audience is older teens they may be working and have money to spend, so the magazine is a bit more expensive than a young magazine, but has enough content and quality to be worth it.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Music Magazines are mostly quite similar in how they are designed and the key ingredients.

This is a typical cover from Q. All magazines have a masthead, the name of the magazine, and generally looks the same in every issue. The masthead should be large and is normally at the top of the page, in this my masthead follows convention. Often mastheads are in a very bright colour, though mine is not. I decided not to use colour for my masthead as any colour bright enough would look too cheap and suits pop and rock more, so i used white as it still stands out but looks expensive. As with Q, many music magazines use red for their colour scheme, but I decided to use blue, so that it looks different to the rest and because it suits alternative music more. The background of the cover is normally an artist image, the artist is often looking out to connect with the audience, although I did not have my model looking at the camera the image is large enough it still strikes the viewer enough. The cover should have coverlines from the content inside, they grab attention and are interesting. Often coverlines use numbers, which i used, to make it seem important and full of content. Coverlines are also often artist names as they are easily recognised, they are also listed as can be seen on Q. I used this as again it makes the magazine seem very full.

Contents pages all look very similar, with the contents split into sections for easy use. The colour scheme from the cover if often used throughout the rest of the magazine, something I did in mine, with the use of blue. Often contents have more information about the magazine and small descriptions of the contents, I didn't include any of this as I wanted all my pages to look very clear and thought it ruined the design. So that the contents page doesn't look like a slab of text a lot of pictures from inside are used, something i did, though I created a collage of images and overlaid them with the contents title as these images are not as important. In my magazine I haven't included any page numbers, the magazine readers are very design  conscious as I said in my treatment, and the numbers did not fit the design. Also as many of the bands that will be featured are quite unknown readers will look through the magazine and will be interested in nearly all the content, rather than just flicking to several pages. In my audience feedback someone liked this idea and suggested it would work well as a web magazine, with links to the relevant pages. Having it as an online magazine would work well for the tech conscious audience aswell as the environmental climate.

Double page spreads are often quite simple in design, with about a half and half ratio of picture and text. I kept with this and made the image quite large, as readers are interested in photography etc. and so would want good size images. I included the artist name as many of the artists are unknown and so need introducing, this is the reason i also had solo pictures, so readers could recognise the band members. I kept with the Question and Answer format in my interview as it works well, I also highlighted the questions as many magazines do to make it easier to read. Double page spreads often have their own colour scheme matching the image etc. and this is something I think i should have done, but forgot to do. 

Overall I have stayed with the tried and tested formula for my magazine as it looks clean and professional. Though such a professional or sophisticated design for a teenage magazine is different to some magazines. I have tried to get the right balance between good design and a fun magazine for young adults.

My Final Pages

So my pages are all done, i'm really pleased with them. Now i've just gotta do my evaluation.

Double Page Spread

So this is my DPS, its pretty much done except for the picture of Tilly that i haven't done yet.
Any alterations? :)

I'm Still Going...

So even though I haven't posted in ageeees i'm still working on my pages. Here is some of it...

I need some more music-y pictures for my contents then I should be nearly done. 

This is the band picture for my Double page spread (The name is from Wikipedia :D )